Irish pair earn Olympic qualification

SAILING:AFTER JUST three days of racing in the 49er Skiff class, Ballyholme's Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern qualified Ireland for a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games and the second discipline alongside Annalise Murphy's result in the Laser Radial last week.

The pair scored two fifth places yesterday and were well inside the nation qualification standard as the class split into gold and silver fleets.

A single race is scheduled for today to regain the schedule that was disrupted yesterday due to light conditions across the five course areas off Fremantle.

“We had a plan set before the event to get it (qualification) out of the way so we can concentrate on preparing for the Olympics over the next few months,” said Seaton.

The pair must concentrate on maintaining or improving their 10th place overall in the coming five gold-fleet races. The top-10 boats at the end of the final series progresses to a short medal race on Sunday.

“We’ve still got a big job to do as our main job here is to be top 10,” said McGovern. “We don’t want to be sitting on the wall watching the medal race.”

Meanwhile, Peter O’Leary and David Burrows held their 11th place by nation result yesterday, inside the qualification standard while lying 15th overall in the Star keelboat class.

Brazil’s Robert Scheidt leads overall as the single 41-boat fleet takes a rest day today before two further fleet races tomorrow and their medal race final on Saturday.

James Espey in the Laser also had his best day on the water with a third and a 20th from the fleet of 147. He now lies 63rd overall, having jumped up the leader board from 100th on Monday.